Desh Ka Mood Live Updates: NDA set to sweep Bihar; SP-BSP alliance reigns supreme in UP
Background
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India is expected to hold a press conference at 5 pm on Sunday to announce the dates for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As per reports, the Election Commission is set to have finalised the dates of the polls and also concluded preparatory meetings. The election commission was scheduled to hold a crucial meeting on Saturday to discuss the final modalities of the parliamentary polls. The elections are likely to be held over seven or eight phases in April-May, sources said.
Opposition parties have questioned the delay in announcing the poll dates, with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel asking the EC whether it was waiting for the Prime Minister's "official" travel programme "to conclude".
The announcement of dates will be followed by a meeting of election observers next week for the first and second phase of polling. In 2009, the commission had announced Lok Sabha poll schedule on March 2. The five-phase polls began on April 16 and ended on May 13.
In 2014, the commission had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May. While the first phase polling was on April 7, the last phase was on May 12. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.
There is a strong possibility that the EC may go by the precedent and hold assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh along with the Lok Sabha polls. Since the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been dissolved, the EC is bound to hold fresh polls there as well within a six-month period, which will end in May.
While there is a view that the J-K assembly elections can be held along with the Lok Sabha polls, a lot depends on the complex security situation in the state given the heightened tension along the India-Pakistan border.
The Centre and the state administration, being managed by the Centre-appointed Governor, are against holding the two elections together.
However, all political parties in the state favoured simultaneous polls during a meeting with the Election Commission earlier this week.
The J-K assembly's six-year term was to end on March 16, 2021, but it got dissolved after a ruling coalition between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell apart. The other state assemblies and Lok Sabha have five-year terms.
The required electronic voting machines and paper trail machines are in place to be deployed in nearly 10 lakh polling stations across 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.
There is a high probability of the elections being spread across seven to eight phases this time. In 2014, the EC had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May. While the first phase polling was on April 7, the last phase was on May 12.
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